Verse to Memorize: “Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him. For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.” Psalm 103:13,14

Have you ever found yourself repeating something important so that you will not forget? Pick up milk, pay power bill, soccer at 6:00. In Psalm 103, King David is reminding himself to praise God and rightly remember all of His attributes and blessings. “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits.” So much of our struggle in life and battle with sin can be traced back to a wrong view of God’s character and nature. If we are wrong about who God is and what He is like, we will be wrong in the way that we interpret and respond to the situations of life. As a result, our emotions will also be wrong, not in line with scripture. Our actions and emotions are a byproduct of our thoughts.

David reminds himself and us that God is our Heavenly Father. He describes His children as those who fear Him. One is not a child of God because God is obligated to love us, or because we are made in His image, or that He has given us physical life. A child of God is one who has been born again through the new birth of salvation. It is rooted in the gospel. We are adopted into the family of God, chosen and loved, as Father God has compassion on His children. The word compassion is to be tender or have mercy, to love deeply as only a parent can. We have a special relationship with God. He is now our Father and it is a permanent relationship of love.

We can’t look to our earthly fathers to understand our Heavenly Father. We must look to the place where He has revealed Himself to us, the Bible. The Bible tells us that because of this fatherly relationship, we have access to Him in prayer, and we can call Him Abba Father. He will answer our prayers and give us good gifts, including the gift of the Holy Spirit. He is preparing a place for us, and we will one day be with Him forever in heaven. He will also discipline us in love so we will be holy like He is holy.

As we remember God’s fatherly care for us, we will grow in trust and obedience. It will keep us from worry, fear, doubt, anger, despair and indecision. It will motivate us to live holy lives like our Father. What we believe and what we think will flow out in how we live. That is why we need to remind ourselves that God is our Father. We are deeply loved and cared for daily by our Father.

I hope you will dig deeper into the great truth that God is Father and how that truth should impact our daily lives.